


Language Barrier

by chaos_monkey, Revakah



Series: Triple Author Thranto Prompt Fills [6]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: Thrawn Series - Timothy Zahn (2017)
Genre: Drabbles, Light Angst, M/M, Pining, Shorts, Sort Of, Unresolved feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-27 05:30:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 520
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21113483
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chaos_monkey/pseuds/chaos_monkey, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Revakah/pseuds/Revakah
Summary: "Thrawn accidentally calls Eli something sweet in Cheunh but then refuses to translate it, and so Eli thinks it’s some sort of insult or slur, which hurts him cause he’s pining so hard. Thrawn is embarrassed at his lapse and then one day (could be weeks or years later I dunno!) Eli finds out (from another Chiss) that the word is actually something intimate and marvellous that you only call someone you love in a romantic sense."- evilmouse





	1. 100 word Drabble - Revakah

**Author's Note:**

  * For [evilmouse](https://archiveofourown.org/users/evilmouse/gifts).

_ “-htuso” _

_ “Excuse me?” _

He had heard the word only once before, probably unintentionally. His request for a translation had been ignored, and Thrawn had acted more formally towards him after that. That sudden distance had _ hurt_. Then he’d been sent off to the Ascendancy, and that was the end of it.

He’d thought.

_ “Oh, of course’” _

He almost regretted finding out what it meant. It had been easier to deal with leaving everything he knew behind when he believed that he was alone in his feelings.

He looked at the view of Copero from the observation deck, and agreed.

“Glorious”


	2. Short - chaos_monkey

"_Veb vah sen'uvcah, vuscahi._"

From his place at the next table, Eli automatically translated the Cheunh from the couple behind him. He hadn't really _ meant _to eavesdrop, but he'd been working so hard lately at improving his grasp of the language that it was just automatic at this point. 

_ See you tonight… something. _ Eli frowned. Not at the 'see you tonight', but at that last word… _ vuscahi. _He didn't know it, yet it sounded familiar. 

And then it hit him. 

He'd heard it from _ Thrawn, _ years ago now, but he remembered it surprisingly clearly… mainly because when he'd asked Thrawn what it meant, Thrawn had gone rigid and flatly refused to answer him. Curious and a little frustrated at not knowing, Eli had asked him about it again later, and Thrawn had actually flushed a light purple and _ snapped _at him to drop it. 

Had said Eli was better off not knowing what it meant. 

And that had stung, for a lot longer than Eli cared to admit. Because all he'd been able to conclude at the time was that it was an insult. They'd been at the end of another difficult visit to Coruscant for Ascension Week, Eli had gotten sick and tired of people talking down to him for being nothing more than a Wild Space _ hick, _and— he flushed now, remembering— he'd had a few too many drinks and decided he may as well act the way everyone seemed to expect him to anyway. 

Thrawn had dragged him back to their room, deftly fended off Eli's drunken and completely ill-advised _ advances, _and bundled him off to bed. Thrawn had headed for the 'fresher mumbling to himself, and… that was when he'd said it. Eli had always assumed Thrawn had been pissed off at him for embarrassing them both, or maybe disgusted by Eli trying it on with him, but didn't want Eli to know exactly what insulting name Thrawn had called him. 

Given the obvious romantic relationship between the two Chiss he'd been listening to, Eli's stomach dropped out as he suddenly realized that he might have been horribly, terribly wrong about the whole thing all along. 

The _ Steadfast _was due to head out again that same day, so at least he could ask his language tutor tomorrow when his Cheunh lessons resumed. 

If he had the courage to, anyway.

He almost wasn't sure he wanted to know what it meant, now; half a galaxy away from the man he'd loved in silence for so many years. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am so bad at the language stuff x'D I hope you liked it anyway!


End file.
